My grandparents are 82. They have been married 62 years. Earlier this month my grandmother fell and broke her hip. My grandfather has a really bad heart - when I say really bad, it functions around 20% and he can barely walk.
On Friday she came from the hospital. She was really struggling. She is frail anyway, trying to walk with even a walker is so difficult. While she was in the hospital he had a ramp built for a wheelchair. As we pulled into the driveway, there he stood at the end of that ramp with a wheelchair. I almost lost it. It was everything I could do not to cry.
Without each other, they honestly have nothing.
Last night Nick and I had to take her to back to hospital. The doctors say she may not make it through the night. Apparently she developed an infection in her intestines and it took over her body. She survived emergency surgery today, against the odds but she is so weak from her hip surgery earlier this month that they just don't think she'll make it through this.
She's on a ventilator now, with all kinds of tubes and IVs. They let my grandfather in to see her, and when he came out I could tell he had been crying. What do you do? To actually be one with someone takes time. It's years of sharing life. It's making it through so many things over time again and again.
Then there comes the end. When you have overcome every hurdle and been through so many things together, but you just can't get over this last one. Your entire life has been spent with someone who was the someone it was all for - all the work, the sleepless nights, the good, the bad, the great, the vacations, the kids, the grandkids - all of IT. That person to live with, love, bitch, laugh, cry and hope. In the blink of an eye - or in one weekend - you can watch it just slip away.
My heart aches tonight for them.
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